Although in retrospect Dr António de Oliveira Salazar´s period in power from 1928 until 1968 seems untroubled, his regime certainly experienced difficulties.

In the 1930s alone, there were armed insurrections in April, 1931 (Funchal, Madeira), August, 1931 (Lisbon) and January, 1934 (widespread, but famously in Marinha Grande). There was an assassination attempt on Salazar himself in July, 1937, the year in which there were 3,100 political arrests.

Members of the Algarve Archaeological Association (AAA) have recently enjoyed a day spent at the Department of Archaeology at the University of the Algarve (UAlg) in Faro. We were invited by NAP (Núcleo de Alunos de Arqueologia e Paleoecologia) to see the presentations made by students who had received grants from the AAA in 2016 to attend international conferences to present their work.

Freedom Day, Revolution Day or simply, Carnation Day, the 25th of April is a national holiday commemorating both the 1974 military coup and the first free elections on that date in 1975.

Peter Booker, the President of the Algarve History Association, writes about at the lead-up to the events in 1974 that changed Portugal from an unhappy, tense place under the Estado Novo regime, even after the death of the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, into a fledgling democracy:

We are nearing the Christmas holiday season, and all the decorations are being put out for Saint Nick. Houses and malls alike are getting a covering of lights with highlights of green and red. Children will soon look to the sky, a-waiting the jingling of bells and the sound of hooves on the rooftop. But have you ever wondered who Saint Nicholas was and why we hang stockings out at Christmas?

This Saturday marks the 113th anniversary of man’s first “heavier-than-air” flight in a powered craft. On Dec 17, 1903 at 10:35am, with Orville at the controls and Wilbur standing by, the Wright Brothers made history. Their glider, called “Flyer”, lifted off and flew 120 feet in 12 seconds across the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk on the coast of North Carolina.

The oldest shipwreck from Europe's Golden Age of Exploration has been found off the coast of Oman, the country's Ministry of Heritage and Culture will announce on Tuesday.

The wreck is believed to be that of the Esmeralda, which was part of a fleet led by legendary Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama during his second voyage to India (1502-1503).

The wreck was initially located in 1998 and excavated between 2013 and 2015 by a partnership between the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture and the shipwreck recovery company Bluewater Recoveries Ltd., which is directed by David Mearns. Support for the project was provided by the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council.

Cape St. Vincent, one of the major geographical features of the Algarve with its millennia of history; The Monastery of São Vicente de Fôra in Lisbon; St Vincent’s Anglican Church of the Algarve; we are indeed surrounded by the name of St. Vincent. But who was he?

There is little to give you the answer anywhere near the Cape itself apart from a small statue of him in the little Church of Nossa Senhora de Graça inside the fortaleza in Sagres and some scant information on him in the museum in the Cape lighthouse complex, and even nearly all Guide Books give him but a passing reference. This is particularly odd and indeed sad since he is, in fact, the Patron Saint of Lisbon (and perhaps almost as importantly to some, the Patron saint of Wine Producers!).

New Year is the time at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner.

The New Year of the Gregorian calendar, today mostly in use, falls on 1 January (New Year's Day), as was the case both in the old Roman calendar (at least after about 713 BCE) and in the Julian calendar that succeeded it.